I Made A Promise To A King
by MadeOfSunshine
Summary: Set in medieval times, Deidara's father sends his son in disguise as a Princess in order to appease his Kingdom's otherwise hostile enemies, the Uchiha. Deidara goes to live at the Uchiha castle with no one but his Knight Sasori there to help keep the secret of his gender.He is due to marry the Prince Itachi, but the risk heightens as the day of the wedding consummation approaches.
1. Chapter 1

_I Made A Promise To A King_

Deidara x Sasori; Deidara x Itachi ; Sasuke x Shikamaru; Kakashi x Iruka, aaand whatever else happens :P

_Chapter One:_

_Knight Sky_

{*XOXOX*}

There was nothing but the wind in his golden yellow hair.

And the taste of sour wine still stinging his tongue.

"Deidara!" Sasori's voice was so disruptive in the silence. "Where are you, brat?"

Deidara tilted his head back to look out at him. He was such a small shape, red and silver, bobbing in the distance beneath the endless grassy hill he sat on.

"Deidara!" He yelled tiredly.

Deidara threw his voice back out at his knight. "I'm up here, Danna!" Only person in the world he would bother reveal that to. He waited till Sasori glanced up at him. "That party blows."

He was referring to the legions of guests, who had gathered themselves in the castle's main halls, to celebrate yet another royal triviality. Most things that royalty did seemed oddly trivial. He wasn't even sure what they were celebrating.

"Mind your mouth, brat," Sasori chided him, frowning perplexedly. "How did you get up there?"

"I flew, Danna."

"You are such a guiltless liar."

"But I did," Deidara said. He pointed a royal hand to the sky. "On that."

A giant shadow engulfed Sasori where he stood. He followed Deidara's gaze into the clouds and noticed the clay bird circling the air above him. Sasori frowned. "That's not funny. Get rid of it, brat."

"But I made it…" Deidara began in astonishment, knowing he meant to keep his work of art until he was through admiring it.

Sasori's glare suggested otherwise. He lifted his proud knight head and pointed out backwards to the towering castle. "Don't you remember what you did the last time?"

Deidara's mind visited the unpleasant memory. His father's glowering red face afterwards. Sasori's helpless face palm. He flicked his chin away to evade the topic. "No."

"I do," Sasori murmured, and then proceeded to chant, "Ningyō no jutsu."

"What're you gonna do?" Deidara leapt to his feet, too late to guide his clay bird from harm's way as he would have liked to.

Sasori's puppet string attack landed just in time to grab the white bird and fling it into the density of trees in the wood just behind them. It disappeared from view moments before a man riding a gaining stallion materialized before them, heaving.

"Your father wants you," The exasperated knight informed Deidara, adding with bitter reluctance, "Your majesty."

Deidara felt the weight of his title descend on him again. He was a prince with every object in the material world, and yet he had none of the things he wanted. He stole one last fleeting glance into the wind again.

"Go with him ,Deidara," Sasori said.

Deidara looked to him desolately, as though he'd been betrayed. He was still speechless from the loss of his bird, but gathered himself in time to answer his knight. "Do I have to, Danna?"

'_Of course, brat. The party isn't over yet. Those guests are your family. One day, you will lead them. You should know them first,'_ Sasori thought, but he said none of those things. He merely tipped a smile up at his dissatisfied friend. "Yeah, you have to, brat."

Deidara and the fidgety, newly arrived knight were both startled as Sasori suddenly undid his jutsu and let the white clay bird go free from its forceful concealment. Sasori was unable to destroy anything Deidara had crafted. The bird broke from where it had been hidden in the trees, flurrying up in big excited strokes of its wings to meet the sky again. Deidara burst out laughing as it rushed over head, into the air above the surprised knight that had come to collect him.

"Is…that a bird?" the confused knight began, squinting.

Sasori nodded helpfully. "It's the Prince's jutsu, he…"

"Katsu!" Deidara yelled unexpectedly, alarming even Sasori. He knew they'd hate him for it, as the bird spat and blew into a thousand ribbon-like pieces atop their heads, charging the air with a rain of fire. It was a little reckless, granted. But it was just too pretty to resist the temptation.

{*XOXOX*}

_Three Days Later…_

Deidara's mouth fell open at the proposition his insistent father had just given him. "You want me to marry a what?"

"An Uchiha," his father gladly inserted. "You have to understand the political dynamics, Deidara. If we can't land this alliance with the Royal Uchiha Court, then we'll have war to face." His father's expression tilted to anger, "That's death if we weigh the odds."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Deidara raised the question suddenly. He sat as politely as he could manage at the elaborate table in his father's study. He maintained his father's gaze even though it frightened him. "I'm a boy."

His father sighed reluctantly, eyeing Sasori as he leant casually on the wall behind Deidara. The Knight's assessing gaze made him appear to be in constant guard of Deidara. It sometimes felt as though employment as the Prince Deidara's Knight was not a matter of servitude to his Kingdom, but a matter of wish.

The King inhaled again, sweeping his focus back into his son's ocean blue eyes. "Deidara…"

"Aren't the Uchiha descendants all Princes?"

"Yes, Deidara, but the thing is…"

"I don't even understand how they found out about us. We're the Hidden Stone, hn. We've been hidden for so long from all the other Kingdoms that I thought…"

"Just hear me," His father looked on him intently. "The eldest Uchiha boy is going to attain the throne at some point."

"And?"

"And he is queenless if he does. The Royal Uchiha Household has made the terrible mistake of unleashing war on all their problems. None of the other Royal Houses will marry their daughters to the family due to bad blood between every one of them."

"But we will?" Deidara asked unguardedly, forgetting he usually made it his mission not to delve into politics.

Sasori took notice of his interest quietly from behind him, shifting his weight against the wall.

Deidara's father pressed his gaze to his son. Deidara looked so vulnerable when he wore that confused expression. "The Uchiha came looking for other Royal Families," the King said. "They stumbled onto us. We are hidden no more."

"So what can we do, hn?" Deidara interrupted his father.

Sasori kicked his chair as a gentle reminder from behind him. "Be quiet, brat," he muttered fondly.

Deidara's father settled his irritation by gritting his teeth. He had been standing the entire time, staring across at his nineteen year old son. At last, he gestured to a chair opposite Deidara, and an assistant rushed out of nowhere to pull it up for him. He sunk down gracefully. "Deidara. Itachi Uchiha, and his family, don't know you are a boy. They've seen you sitting on that hilltop, with your hair loose. Talking to yourself. They are under the impression that I have a Princess…" A glinting light touched his father's expectant gaze. "A valuable trading point to a queenless castle."

"But they're wrong!" Deidara said dazedly, unsure he'd understood. "You don't have a daughter. They'll know that the second I walk in there, won't they?"

"I do have a son that looks like a daughter," his father returned honestly, making no effort to veil the crux of the matter. "And they won't know anything when you walk in there in a dress, Deidara."

Deidara's mouth sprung open in immediate protest, his horrified expression spewing all of the words his father cut him off from saying.

"You will marry the Uchiha Prince under the pretense of the Princess of the Hidden Stone. When war is ruled out, and settlements agreed upon, then we will have you return home again. Unnoticed for a lie," His father's tone was cold and implicit. "This all relies on you, son."

{*XOXOX*}

"I won't leave, Danna," Deidara said, plunking down on his crisp clean bed sheets.

Sasori took one look into his meaningful gaze and accepted the adamancy in the statement. He shrugged, "I know, brat. But what can you do?"

"This is the worst plan ever," Deidara went on. "I'm supposed to dress as a Princess? To win over a Prince? Then what, play at being a pansy for just long enough to throw them off the scent while father gets his legal act together? Then get pulled from the Uchiha household like I haven't just been bound to them by marriage?"

"I will rescue you myself, if it comes to that," Sasori said. He walked up to stand before Deidara, dipping his head to face him. "I have to. I'm your knight, Dei."

"Danna…"

"What is it?"

"I can't do this," Deidara flicked his fringe behind his ears, but it spilt back over again. He tried to appear calm and collected, but he knew he was panicking. "They want to send me far away. To a violent nation. With no one I know there."

Sasori agreed with the fear inwardly. But he banished the idea on the outside air. "Don't let that throw your game. You're plenty of violent and stranger for them to contend with."

Deidara let a smile escape him. "Hn."

"I'll come with you," Sasori added as an afterthought, not sure he knew how to exist in the castle halls without Deidara's incessant presence.

"You'll come?" Deidara threw his head up, quick to snatch at hope. "You'll come with me, Danna?"

Sasori acted as though the thought were unbearable, even though he wanted to. He bobbed his head. "I have to, brat. I told you."

"You have to why?"

"I…just told you why."

"You're my friend, that's why, hn!" Deidara hugged him from the height he was level with, catching his waist.

Sasori blushed slightly at the surprisingly firm grip. "It's just orders, brat. Geez." He tried to wrestle Deidara from holding him, but the feminine looking prince was stronger than met the eye.

"Good luck to this Itachi person," Sasori changed the subject hurriedly, having mused on the concept of Deidara's betrothed.

Deidara's laughter fluttered between them as he let go. "Are you gonna wear a dress with me, Danna?"

"No."

"But you said you were my friend."

"You said that!"

Deidara laughed again, still concerned about the marriage. Still doubtful of his acting abilities. He hoped the Uchiha family would be unobservant. Although from what he'd heard… they'd see right through him.

"Which one am I unlawfully marrying again, Danna?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

"He's worrying, right?"

"Yeah, he's worrying alright, but Sasuke's the one you really have to worry about." Sasori elaborated when Deidara's eyes prompted him to. "Sigh. Just stay away from Sasuke and stay close to me. If anyone's gonna get you caught out, it's Sasuke. And if anyone's gonna keep you from getting caught, it's me."

Deidara withheld a small smile of irony. Wasn't going to be hard to keep close to Sasori, considering Sasori ensured that he was always around.

{*XOXOX*}

Author's Note:

This is a story about Deidara, based in medieval times, but obviously a little less realistically considering they're all ninja etc. =P Homosexuality was a serious offense in those days...so the concept of this story is really playing with fire.

Deidara's father, King of the Hidden Stone, is obliged to make peace with the Uchiha Royal House or risk war with them. And what they need most is a Princess to marry one of their Uchiha Princes so that he will have a Queen when he reigns.

Deidara's father doesn't have a girl, but...he does have Deidara. He conjures up a plan to have Deidara marry Itachi Uchiha(who is on his way to becoming King and needs to have legitimate heirs soon after) under the pretense of being female, since he appears so feminine anyway, in order to save his kingdom. The plan is to retrieve Deidara later, once the Hidden Stone stands a better chance.

With Deidara in the dangerous game of court life in the particularly hostile Uchiha Royal House, it becomes partly the duty of his knight, Sasori, who happens to love Deidara a little too much, to help ensure the secret remains hidden. Problems develop as the day of the wedding consummation draws nearer.

This story features most of the Naruto characters, as I've tried to assign almost everyone in the show a place in Court life based on what I assume they might end up as. Including randoms like Haku =P

The pairings in this are listed at the top of the chapter...but like I said, anything can happen!~

~MadeOfSunshine

Please comment and fave if you're reading this :) It really helps motivate me, and I love to hear what you're thinking.~

P.S. Also, I'm not really very into cross dressing, so the Deidara in a dress concept will be lighthearted :)

P.P.S. Preview image not mine!~


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_Her Majesty_

The kingdom was vast. The kind of place one got lost in even when accompanied.

"Where do we go, Danna?" Deidara was whispering, throwing quick glances out all around him. The décor was immaculately arranged, giving off a sense of compulsive obsessive residents, and the quality of everything in their view seemed to exceed that which belonged to even the Hidden Stone.

"Be quiet, brat."

"Your majesty!" someone hailed excitably, at last falling into view a short way down the hall as they turned the corner. The man's hair was tied back high and taut atop his head, and his eyes were brown but alight with happiness. He wore an animated expression of disbelief and awe as he came rushing towards their standing point. "The Princess!"

"What do I do?" Deidara hissed to Sasori, a vexed frown falling hard over his azurite blue gaze.

Sasori's sight didn't deviate from the approaching servant for even a moment as he freed the words, "Let me handle it."

"Your Highness!" The man speedily bid Deidara, rushing into a bow, and then pulling up to meet the hard, cold eyes of Sasori. "And your Excellency!"

Sasori steeped his head, then dashed a look at the servant. "Her Majesty will want her rooms now."

"Of course! Right this way! I am to be your Majesty's escort, Iruka. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call for it! Right this way!" He seemed overly anxious. Sasori wondered what that was about.

"This way!" Iruka set out ahead of them, leading the way straight down the first hall to trail off the lobby. An unexpected second arrival presented itself as they entered the next room.

Kakashi, the man who next introduced himself, had silvery-grey hair, and the underlying nuance of curiosity in his voice. "Your Majesty."

"Hello," Deidara said, half having expected something more dignified to tumble out of his mouth. He was useless at formality. He spent too much time alone in his dream world, he supposed.

Sasori coughed audibly to intervene. "Her Majesty was supposed to meet with the Royalty of your household. May I enquire on her behalf?"

_Her,_ Deidara was thinking indignantly, involuntarily grimacing out in reality. _How out of place didn't that sound? _He despised being called a girl, and it was only just getting started. His dress was also horribly uncomfortable; it was taking everything in his being not to fuss about it.

Kakashi flashed a quick smile up at Sasori-or at least they supposed he was smiling. It was hard to tell behind his little masking mouth guard. "Royalty is scattered at the moment, Your Grace. The King and the King-to-be are scheduled to join you at a banquet this evening."

"I'm starving," Deidara whispered to Sasori, despite the fact that everyone was in range and heard him anyway.

Iruka smiled. "Well, you'll love dinner! We've prepared your favorite!"

Deidara lost sight of his annoyance for a second and it cleaved way to a smile. He turned it on Sasori, who rolled his eyes away. If only Deidara knew what he knew, would he still be smiling?

"Your rooms are up ahead," Iruka said, after a short walk through the castle passageways. "If you wander just a little beyond your rooms, you'll encounter those of the Prince Itachi's."

Deidara shuddered. Ugh, a Prince. Treating him like a Princess. How unnerving. The only other Prince he'd ever encountered in the past had been an arrogant fool about handling woman. The major disparity was…he hadn't been considered a woman back then.

"Here we are," Iruka said, throwing open a door that extended into a room of grandiose size and brilliant lighting. Unblemished white tiles shimmered under uniquely shaped candle holders, casting shadows inadvertently over the walls in shapes of expensive chairs and imponderable sculptures.

"They're a little opulent," Sasori murmured into Deidara's ear. Unfortunately, his Prince was far too fascinated by the comfortable living standard that the room offered to bother ask what such a big word meant, as he usually would.

"Stop following me," Iruka was whispering harshly to Kakashi, hanging on to the front door, beyond the hearing range of their guests. "Don't you remember what the King said?"

"Yeah, yeah." A little too clearly. "I just…like spending time with you."

"We can't be in the same room and something goes wrong, you know that."

"I know, but…"

"Well, then go! You heard what the King said."

"The King is only the reason he has this problem in the first place!"

Their conspiracies would go forever unheard by Sasori and Deidara as the sudden tumult of the three girls rushing in from a side entrance drowned them out. Ladies in waiting.

Deidara had only a vague grasp of the term because his mother had had them, before she'd passed away. They were frivolous, shrill creatures in his experience, always around, and never very useful.

The first to catch his attention was the pink haired girl, her emerald green dress flowing wondrously around her feet as she stepped up to address him. "Your Majesty!" She swept into a bow that had a ripple effect of bows from the two ladies behind her.

Deidara smiled awkwardly, glancing at Sasori for assistance. Ladies in his room? All the time? That was going to be a problem.

Sasori feigned nonchalance. "Evening, madams. Her Majesty is just arrived and weary from travel. She'll seek no assistance till morning."

The girl who later became known as Sakura promised obedience as she fell into a second bow. "Of course!"

Sasori had wondered about this part. Worried, would be the operative word.

"Get out!" Iruka was hissing quietly, and it caught Sasori and Deidara's attention.

Kakashi took his hand off Iruka's arm with slow precision, aware of the eyes they were picking up. "You win," he said monotonously under his breath, quick to slip away.

Iruka put on other false smile as Deidara stared at him with beady eyes."You'll have to forgive the Courtier Kakashi, your Majesty. He is among the King's favorites because he is among the most…amusing."

_That,_ Iruka thought inwardly, _was putting it mildly._

{*XOXOX*}

"Your Grace!" The title echoed across the small crowd congregated in the stable yard, as the nearing approach of Sasuke Uchiha came into vision's range. He was making a hurried return on the back his proudest looking stallion, Taka. And at his side, maintaining the same furious speed with the same fervid adamancy, were the Prince's favorite two esquires—the son of the Nara Family, Shikamaru, and the son of the Hyuuga Family, Neji.

All three broke through the willowing grasses and drew up short at the front gate of the stables. Taka reared up off the ground a little, caught off guard by the command to stop quite so abruptly. He was accustomed to the constant encouragement to race, as though he might never stop, by the ambitious nature of his rider. Prince Sasuke's eyes swore he was not content with the need to cut their venture short either. He brushed dirt from his mouth with one quick swipe from his priceless suede gloves. When he looked again, Shikamaru was down on the ground at his side, extending a hand up to aid his dismounting.

Neji's horse was bigger than any of theirs. The ambitious drive of his family was clearly marked into everything that he aspired to do as well. He dismounted last, ensuring he still had a firm grip on the restless beast as the three of them took to the stables. They were accosted by the stable boys.

"I got it!" Naruto said, the eldest, but among the youngest at heart. He snatched up the reins of Neji's inappropriately sized horse with conviction, turning a winning smile on Sasuke and addressing him with the usual thoughtlessness. "Hello, Sasuke!"

"'Your Grace'," Sasuke corrected him, feeling a thirst from the exertion of riding descend on him suddenly.

"Aw, you don't have to call me that," Naruto said obliviously. He turned to tend to Sasuke's stallion. "Oh my gosh! Sasuke, you ride terribly! Taka looks pissed! You twisted his reins up…look at this!"

Sasuke clicked his tongue, storming away the way he usually did when Naruto got to reprimanding him. It made no sense. Naruto was the son of a nothing. And yet he had all of the innate confidence to challenge the sons of Kings.

Shikamaru and Neji exchanged glances, falling into a hurried pursuit of their frustrated leader.

Naruto played with the reins of Sasuke's stallion until they seemed to unwind to his satisfaction. "There. All it took was some patience."

"And you test mine, Naruto," Sasuke warned him, turning back sharply. There was a complacency in Naruto's expression that could not be measured against any hatred or anger.

Naruto smiled. "Sasuke, I heard the castle's got a Princess."

"And what does that mean to you?"

"Girls don't like boys when they're angry, Sasuke."

Sasuke flicked his chin up, eliciting a bold grin of delight from his adversary. "And so what if she doesn't like me? The Princess is going a far cry from the top anyway, since she's marrying Itachi instead of me."

_Oh, here it came again, _Shikamaru thought, an empathy and tedium simultaneously filling his chest. _The family ascension drama._

"I should be King," Sasuke added, as though any of them hadn't known he was about to say that. "I passed all of my father's expectations. I even surpassed Itachi in serving him. And I've kept committed to his guidelines, unlike Itachi, who has wandered."

"Sasuke," Shikamaru began, when Sasuke interrupted him curtly.

"I'm right."

"Being right doesn't make you, King, Sasuke." Naruto's face twitched into a fond smile. He looked like a cat about to spring on a mouse when his blue eyes lit up like that, and his hopeful expression became infused with excitement. "But guess what?"

"What, Naruto?' Sasuke snapped, almost sarcastically. Although it was true that Sasuke often did appreciate Naruto's arbitrary announcements.

"I'm gonna be a King too."

Sasuke scoffed, haunted by the familiarity of that sentence. "King of what? You were born of nothing."

"We don't know that," Naruto insisted, even going so far as to chase Sasuke out of the stables as he tried to leave. "I was an orphan. I could be anyone's son!"

"There is no one's son who you could be that is great enough make you King," Sasuke condemned him, adding derisively, "Do you think the King of Sound could be related to you? Or the great King of Leaf? I bet you think you're related to Minato."

"I could be!"

"Whatever." Sasuke flicked a look to Shikamaru as they exited the stable yard, in a hurry to reach the castle as his father the King had instructed. The banquet was approaching. "And you?" he asked Shikamaru, as Neji fought with Naruto to keep him from following. "Do you wish to be a King, too?"

Shikamaru smiled, a lingering promise residing in his eyes. "As the Naras have always done, my only ambition is to serve the true King."

Sasuke paused a short way from the castle, caught a little way between Naruto and Neji's dispute, and the bulking grandeur of the kingdom. They were on a road paved in green leaves and cobbled in beige stones as Sasuke met Shikamaru's eyes keenly, posing the question, "Who is the true King?"

"You are, your Majesty."

{*XOXOX*}

"Humor me," Sasori pleaded with Deidara, once everyone had left his rooms and they were alone to discuss the matter.

"No."

"Deidara, there are just a few simple rules to follow. If you would just sit down a moment and hear them out…"

"I hate rules," Deidara reminded him, frowning crossly. "And who does this Uchiha guy think he is, anyway? Imposing rules on me."

"The King, Deidara."

"Well, I'ma be a King. When I'm a King, I'm not gonna make up rules."

Sasori grew exasperated with his childishness. There was a point where it stopped being cute. "Alright, let's not call them rules. Let's call them helpful suggestions for not getting your head cut off or guts cut out."

"Continue."

"You're not allowed to out think these people, Dei. They are right. Even when they're wrong. You're also barely entitled to an opinion, since you're a woman now."

Deidara snorted, suddenly overcome with a feminism that had never affected him before. "Sexists."

"Highly. You're supposed to laugh a lot and argue very little, or never at all preferably. And whatever you do, don't let any of them catch you alone and try to feel you up, or we're done for."

Deidara's jaw dropped. "Does that happen?"

"Oh, it happens. Not sure how often here, since this is my first time visiting the Uchiha Kingdom. And hopefully my last…But the point is, if anyone starts being overly friendly towards you, then do not let them talk you into escaping into the night, or whatever they call it. Stay in my view at all times…and do not drink the wine!"

"Poison?" Deidara was barely able to gasp out.

"No. You're just gullible enough sober. Do not test fate."

Deidara's mouth sulked, and he rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Also, I was thinking we should do a few other additional things to help entrench the idea that you're a woman."

"Why would we need to entrench it? I'm in a dress. Isn't it obvious?"

"Uchihas are suspicious by nature, Dei." Sasori thought back to all the times he could remember. Their name was written throughout history, particularly renowned for their involvement in war. "You better watch your back from all angles."

Deidara heard him, nodding, although he was beginning to grow bored and drift mentally away from the conversation entirely. "Aha."

"So cross your legs when you're at the dinner table."

"Aww, but…"

"And eat more slowly. No wolfing down your food like you would at the Hidden Stone."

"I don't…"

"And play with your hair every so often. It adds a nice touch," Sasori concluded. "I remember seeing you do it when you sat up on your hill, when you weren't thinking. It makes you very enticing."

Deidara paused in the offbeat moment it took to process the fact that Sasori had just complimented him. "Uh, thanks…"

"Which is what we want," Sasori added quickly, an unplanned blush showing up on his face. "You're supposed to…Ya know, for the royalty." Sasori ended the discussion abruptly. "Anyway, let's get to dinner. It's probably started. They're all waiting to meet you."

"Danna," Deidara said, stopping on his way past a mirror quite suddenly. He stared long and hard into his reflection, particularly considering the dress.

"What is it, Dei?"

"It's…about this dress."

"Yes, I know it's uncomfortable. They all are. I'm sorry. Let's go."

"No, it's not that," Deidara said, straining to view himself properly. "It's…Danna, it's red."

"Yes, it's a marked color of royalty. And?"

Deidara smiled softly. "And my mother's dress used to be red."

"She was royalty, after all. Let's go."

"To think she was this uncomfortable all the time," Deidara added, struggling with the macramé braided bodice as though he might be able to loosen it. "She never looked uncomfortable, though."

"Yes, it's called a show of dignity. Shall we?" Sasori had the door open, motioning outwards.

Deidara broke from the mirror. "Do you think she'd have sent my away, if she was alive?"

"Not a chance."

Deidara's expression lifted. "Why?"

"Your mother used to call you '_Filius Solis'_. That means '_child of sun'._" Sasori turned for the front door and held it open for Deidara. "Her world revolved around you."

Deidara took the comfort of that notion out with him into the main halls. Child of sun. His hair must have been what started it. He liked it.

And then with an unexpected suddenness, he stepped outside and bumped straight into the man coming down the hall from the left. From the direction Iruka had said Itachi's rooms were located. "Excuse me…" He lost the rest of his sentence to the sight of the charcoal eyed boy. The severe black of his perfect hair and the dark fixation of his penetrating gaze. It bore into you, perhaps right through you.

Deidara lost breath as he thought he recognized Itachi Uchiha. "I…"

Sasori rushed to his rescue, swift to land a bow. "Your Majesty. I present to you Her Majesty, the Princess of the Hidden Stone."

"My pleasure," Itachi offered Deidara in his staid voice, sinking his eyes to the ground as though he were suddenly quite shy. "You're beautiful."

Deidara blushed, unsure how he should take that. He recovered in time to produce any sound at all. "Thank you. I look like my mother."

Sasori snorted mentally, amused at the tenuous connection he'd drawn there. _Nice save._

Itachi didn't venture further. Instead of offering to escort them, as they might have expected, he turned his back and made for the same direction they were headed in alone. "I'll meet you at the dinner table."

Deidara stared after him, anxious. The look he threw Sasori seemed to be riddled with the doubt that he had done something wrong.

Sasori shook his head as Itachi's figure receded with distance. "It's not your fault, brat. You reacted perfectly."

Deidara took some solace in the praise. "Thanks. But what if he's dismissive like that all the time, Sasori? How am I supposed to handle him? I can't make that sort of person love me."

Sasori placed a hand on his back with words he wanted to say locked in his mind, and all that he could bear saying set on the air, "You will."

_I was that way inclined once, too, Deidara. And you made me love you._

{*XOXOX*}

Happy New Years!~ ^^


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

_Secrets_

"Remember," the King Fugaku, leader of the Uchiha, was hissing into his courtier Kakashi's ear. "Nothing…weird."

"She strikes me as a weird one, though," Kakashi rivaled him, grinning with far more arrogance than one consulting a King should possess. "A little bit on the quirky side."

Fugaku raised an interested eyebrow. "How do you reckon?"

Kakashi noticed, without showing it, that he had gained the attention of the head of the Nara house, Shikaku, as well as the head of the Hyuuga house, Hizashi, by his musings as well. They were always side by side with his Majesty, trying to get ahead in the game that all the nobility seemed to play, by staying up close and personal with all of the King's intimate affairs. They were like vultures for information, especially that of a nature that might elevate their status by putting them in the King's favor. Information was powerful. Kakashi's smile widened. "Can't say for certain, your Majesty. If you allow me to joke with my usual weirdness…I might just be able to reveal it to both of us."

Shikaku smiled in amusement at the concept, having always found comic relief in Kakashi's demeanor as a courtier, but Fugaku and Hizashi shook their heads almost at once.

"We can't risk it," Fugaku asserted, as he'd often found himself repeating recently.

Hizashi nudged Kakashi in the ribs harder than was necessary to bring him back into focus. The most exquisite blonde girl, dressed in vermillion red and unadorned but for a small and simple crowning piece atop her head, had just glided through the doors with less noise than air but more presence than a hurricane. Deidara looked to the small crowd and swept them all up in a holding gaze of ocean blue.

Fugaku's jaw hung. "My God, she's beautiful."

It was barely audible, but Kakashi caught it and snorted. His hand went up to motion the Princess over even as he muttered his response through closed jaws. "She'll fit right into your family."

"Your Majesty," her little knight escort, Sasori, announced them as they approached. He fell into a swift bow and the Princess followed clumsily. "It is an honor to attend your kingdom."

"You're most welcome here," Fugaku said, speaking the entire time with his eyes and intentions focused strictly on Deidara. The blonde stream of the supposed Princess's hair cascaded like waterfalls as he pulled himself upright from the bow again.

Sasori inclined his head. Then he made reference to Deidara. "Your Majesty, this is the Princess Deidara, of the Hidden Stone."

"I know," Fugaku admitted, stepping closer to smoothly take Deidara's hand up into his own. "I could tell."

Deidara's face grew hot and the fluster began to ripple, like fire, across the length of his body from the point their hands connected all the way until his cheeks blushed. It shouldn't have been odd to take someone's hand, but with that spellbound look in Fugaku's eyes, it suddenly was. He ripped his hand away without meaning to, surprising and shocking himself perhaps the most of all. Sasori swallowed the gasp his mouth wanted to issue.

They were all staring at Deidara, disbelieving. Who, if anyone, had the impudence to undermine a King in his own domain?

Deidara found in the lightheaded sensation he succumbed to in that moment, that it was possible to think much more quickly than in the usual flow of time.

Deidara flashed his most winning smile, opening one of his arms to the King in what was supposed to be an invitation to hug. "Your Majesty. We're practically family."

Of course, King's were all the same. Ego, and an affinity towards people who amused them.

Fugaku burst out laughing, accepting the brief hug, before sending Kakashi off to take care of Sasori. He intended to escort Deidara the rest of the way towards the dining hall.

"This way, guard dog," Kakashi told Sasori, having noted the expression Sasori's face took on at the prospect of leaving Deidara to another's care.

Sasori's glare withered him. "Sir, in my Kingdom, I would have rein enough to disembowel a man who deemed the Princess's highest knight to the rank of a dog."

"Really?" Kakashi stressed the word into his playful tone, eyes bright with taunting as he leant down to whisper into the proud knight's ear. "But you're in my Kingdom, now, aren't you, Master Knight?"

Sasori flicked his shoulder up to force Kakashi into swerving his head away. Their feud had ignited.

"Sit here, Princess," Fugaku was saying, gesturing to the second best chair at the head of the table. "Your Prince will be arriving shortly."

Deidara felt a frown forming, but let it dissolve into a hurried smile. "Thank you." One question still burned within him. Hadn't Itachi left for the dining halls before him and Sasori? How was it that they had arrived first?

Before he had time for the doubt to spiral and develop, there was new information to take in. The obnoxiously loud entrance of a boy dressed in royal livery, as he stormed through the doors barking orders at Shikamaru. "You should watch where you're walking next time, idiot. Instead of delaying my arrival!"

Shikamaru looked petulant, and indefinitely attentive. "Yes, your Majesty."

"Sasuke!" Fugaku called, waving him over. "I'd like you to meet the Princess!"

Sasuke had a storm in his eyes. When they fell on Deidara, they made him feel as though a great weight had descended.

Sasuke had composed himself by the time he'd reached their end of the table, since clearing the length of the grand room took more than sufficient time to cool off in.

Sasuke nodded to Deidara, who was on the verge of sitting. He extended his hand, expecting him to take it.

Deidara hesitated, aware of the dark undertone Sasuke carried, buried beneath a veneer of formality.

He resigned himself with unwillingness to the idea of taking the hand of someone so unpredictable.

"Prince," Deidara bid him, dipping his eyes to avoid encountering Sasuke's.

While they exchanged the words, Shikamaru wandered off towards his father, yawning lazily. Shikaku smacked him as he caught up, and as Sasori passed the two of them by, he overheard Shikamaru mutter, "Ow. What?"

Neji Hyuga was the next interruption to fill the doorway, almost giving everyone hope that Itachi had arrived. Neji joined his father where the elder Hyuga stood, on the opposite end of the room to the Nara family, as though there were physical walls between them. And in line with their manifold differences, Neji took his stride with more dignity than the Nara's son. Neji leant up to whisper something into his father Hizashi's ears. It perturbed Hizashi, that much was visible. However, with all of the composure expected of the Hyuga breed, Hizashi returned his attention to the event at hand.

Sasuke had just kissed the top of Deidara's hand in a show of manners. Unused to the feeling, Deidara flushed pink a little. It was strange, from what he'd been taught growing up as a boy, to suddenly accept the female role. Like reading the textbook backwards.

Sasuke seemed to sense his disinclination, but said nothing. He withdrew with a steady hand, and flit his sight from Deidara's hair to his eyes. "Gold hair," he mentioned, arbitrarily. "Blue eyes. You know the Uchiha are all black in hair and eye color, don't you?"

Deidara nodded faintly, unsure what the problem was with all of this, but suddenly acutely aware of his physical features. "Of course."

Sasuke smiled, his air foreboding. "In this family, you shall be the dove among crows."

He stuck out. Nice way of saying it.

With that tip left suspended in the air, Sasuke bowed and left for his own seat across the table. His father thought nothing of it, having probably grown used to his son's cryptic mannerisms.

The dove among crows? Crows were hunters.

What chance did one dove stand?

Sasori coughed, gaining Deidara's attention suddenly, from across the room. There was evident disconcertion in Sasori's eyes. It always blossomed when Sasori felt Deidara not within a safe proximity to him. Sasori was mouthing words that required Deidara's memory of their past discussion to piece together.

_Cross your legs._

Deidara blinked twice, repulsed by the idea. Cross them? Like a…girl?

"So, Deidara," Fugaku boomed excitably, frightening Deidara into crossing his legs at the suddenness. He was twice as determined to prove that he was female after that condescending comment Sasuke had thrown at him. "Tell me, has your father given the nuptial plans his blessing?"

Deidara smiled until his face felt like plaster. What had that word meant? Where was his knight and walking dictionary? Deidara cast his eyes over to Sasori for a fleeting moment. Oh, that's right. Sitting all the way on the unreachable end of the room.

"Princess?"

"Oh, yes. Certainly," Deidara said, taking care not to elaborate. It seemed to appease the King. Fugaku beamed elatedly.

"You know, I can't tell you how long it's been since we've had a real woman grace these Kingdom's halls. Well, apart from my wife, of course."

"Will your wife be attending?" Deidara was curious to know, settling into his seat a little more comfortably than was dignified.

Fugaku shrugged. "Who knows. I never know what goes through the minds of my family members."

{*XOXOX*}

"Itachi," Iruka said in surprise, shocked to see him coming down the hallway at such a belated hour. "You're not…in the dining hall yet! But everyone else is! The Princess is! And you're…you're almost an hour late!"

"Shh," Itachi gushed, calmly but swiftly laying his hand over Iruka's mouth and pressing him up against the nearest wall. "Be quiet. For a moment."

Iruka's panic always took precedence over his usual formality. But given enough time, his apprehension subsided and he was able to look Itachi steadily in the face again. "Why are you late?" he whispered through Itachi's fingers, though Itachi merely released him with a tight smile.

"It's complicated, Iruka."

"It must be," Iruka reckoned. "To risk offending your father at this critical juncture of your ascension would be no simple matter."

Itachi fussed with his sleeves, which hung far beyond where his hands ended, and draped elaborately into teardrops of white that billowed at his side when in motion. "Don't worry for me. I know my priorities."

"Please hurry inside," Iruka urged, suddenly aware of his own priorities. The Princess Deidara might report to her father that the Prince had been rude to her on his first attendance by not being punctual. Or worse, or worse…Iruka stifled his panic. Mostly. "Just go!" He shoved the Prince roughly, falling into stride beside him once he'd gotten him going. "Where did you wander off to, anyway?"

"I'll tell you later," Itachi muttered, without any real intention to. He swallowed a breath as they reached the dining hall, before pushing inside.

Deidara's eyes found him first. Then so did everyone else's.

"Your Grace!" people chorused.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at him, retreating towards the other end of the hall to avoid witnessing everyone else's zeal to see the Prince Itachi. A song of happy voices his own presence could never quite generate.

Itachi offered a tentative smile, eventually braving a look at Deidara again. He felt out of place around her. She was something twice as beautiful as he had expected.

And when he looked to her, he was glad he had done so, because he'd caught her smiling. She smiled with her eyes more than anything. And her eyes were on him.

"Itachi!" Fugaku hailed, at last relaxing. "We were growing anxious. This way, son. Have you had the pleasure of meeting the Princess of the Hidden Stone?"

"I believe I have," Itachi admitted, coming over. He took the vacant seat beside his father.

Deidara looked over at Sasori, hoping for a quick mouthed word-of-the-wise. Though to his dismay, Sasori's attention was preoccupied with fending off that courtier Kakashi's incessant nagging.

Left to drown!

Deidara kept his legs crossed, trying to remember what else it had been Sasori suggested to him. Then with relief, he thought he'd remembered something.

"So," Deidara said boldly, twisting a strip of hair between two fingers and marveling at how interesting he suddenly became to everyone. This game of playing with the male mind. "I heard from a reliable source that you were serving my favorite?"

"We are!" Fugaku approved, gesturing to the arriving trays being hauled in by servants. "Your father informed us of your tastes, Princess."

At least his father had gotten something right, in that case.

The food was brought to their end of the table first, inspiring a sulking face from the hungry people gathered elsewhere. Deidara thought, for a perplexing moment, that a harsh malodor of sorts was wafting past his nose. Couldn't be, of course.

The first pristine silver lid was lifted, exposing the meal presented on the tray.

Deidara almost died. The terrible smell identified.

Fish. Deidara hated fish. Hated it. More than starvation, probably.

Deidara threw a heated look over at Sasori, vexed to a point of rage as every lid that came up revealed a different variety of fish. Who knew they even had that many kinds?

When Sasori finally noticed him, it was too late. Fugaku was looking to Deidara expectantly. "Well, how is it? The Uchiha Nation falls on the shores of the all the greatest fish islands. It is our best resource!"

"It's lovely," Deidara lied blatantly, since he hadn't even tried it yet.

Later that evening, Sasori would explain to him: "_It was your father's idea! He knew the Uchiha Nation had an overabundance of sea food, so he tried to…sweeten the deal. By making you seem like the perfect fit for their country."_

But for the time being, Deidara unwittingly fought with his own aversions, to so much as dish up a tiny morsel of the problematic serving.

"Isn't she perfect?" Fugaku was saying to Itachi, and while they conversed, Deidara slipped the fish back onto its serving plate.

Was his father serious? Conjuring up lies without consulting him about them?

That was the quickest way for two stories to not line up, and when stories stopped lining up…they were at greater risk of exposure.

Deidara bit the bullet, and the stupid fish, but he wasn't happy about either one of them.

{*XOXOX*}

It was still early. The banquet would drag itself on for another two hours or so, if his father's history of feasting denoted anything.

Sasuke quite confidently stole out of the dining hall and into the shadows. He maneuvered past the baying horses that were stationed in the paddocks that lined the road to the riverside.

It was there in the moonlight, that he caught sight of his motive for leaving.

Sasuke padded up the grassy knoll softly, trying to sneak up behind his target. Except he knew already that it was impossible.

"Sasuke," Shikamaru greeted him, allowing Sasuke to bind his arms around his waist from behind regardless. The knight touched his chin. "I shouldn't be this accepting of you after the way that you yelled at me."

"You came up with that plan," Sasuke countered, finding himself on the verge of smiling. Something only being with Shikamaru in private could bring out of him.

"Only because you made us late."

"No," Sasuke muttered, certain of that much. "You made us late."

Shikamaru smiled despite his otherwise indifferent demeanor. "I can't help it you find me attractive."

Sasuke's smile resided. "No, you can't. But when I'm King, that will be to your advantage."

Shikamaru scoffed, and angled his nose up to look at Sasuke; not because he didn't believe Sasuke could be King, but because of Sasuke's simply arrogant preconceived notion of success.

"What do you think of the Princess?" Shikamaru deviated suddenly, and it felt as though a cold breeze had picked up at that moment. "She's beautiful, isn't she?"

Sasuke snorted. "Maybe."

"Don't you think you might fall for a woman someday?"

"Doubtful."

"Don't you think…it would be safer?"

Sasuke sensed the sad note laced into that tenor. "Safer?"

Shikamaru turned his head back towards him, visage cast hauntingly in moon rays. "You know. When you are King, it would hardly be appropriate for you to marry, well…me."

Sasuke laughed quietly, but darkly. "Because you're a boy? Shika, when I am King, that will be the first law I will change."

Shikamaru laughed melodically, and unexpectedly. He dropped to his knees, and with one hand, guided Sasuke down to join him in the tall rush of grasses. "You cannot change God's law, Sasuke. Not even the King can."

When Shikamaru drooped his shoulders down lazily, Sasuke took the height advantage to place his chin on Shika's head. "Those laws are mistaken."

Shika let a thin smile pass his lips. "Are you saying God makes mistakes?"

"Surely, God's law was written for man, by man?"

"Surely," Shikamaru agreed.

Sasuke kissed the top of his head, deliberately lingering. "Then I'm saying man makes mistakes."

{*XOXOX*}

The jubilant noise of the banquet musicians carried itself far down the passageways, perfectly audible even as they put miles between them. Deidara was making it his mission to hurry away from the dining hall, having at last been retrieved by Sasori, who could tell he was growing tired and bothered.

Sasori knew better than to expect feigned cordiality from Deidara when he was either tired or bothered.

While they were walking, Deidara was having a break down.

"This dress," he heaved first, clawing at the lacing. "I hate it! I can't breathe! And it's so hot in this forsaken country!"

"Shh," Sasori readily ordered. "Keep it down."

"I still taste fish, Danna! Agh. I hate it!"

"I'll see what I can do about that. Just please, be quiet."

"And since I barely ate any of it, and even that little that I did eat I just wanna throw up, Danna…I'm starving!"

And miserable, and unadjusted, and struggling to acclimatize to the Nation's weather, mannerisms, food and the simple act of being a female, Sasori mentally added to the list. He felt an uncontainable pity for Deidara.

"I wish it were different, brat." The fond connotation on the nickname prevailed. "At best, I can console you with the knowledge that things can't get much worse."

"We've hit rock bottom," Deidara agreed, frowning. "And honestly, what's with the people here? Who was that Sasuke guy? Telling _me_ I stand out like a dove among crows. What's that mean? What does that even mean?"

Sasori shook his head, suddenly reminded of his own imponderable encounters. "Right? I met that Kakashi guy. Talk about a candle half lit."

"And that King!"

"That King…" Sasori got on board, memories blazing. "How salacious was he?"

"Yeah!" Deidara paused, realizing that he was unsure of what the descriptive word actually meant. "Actually, no. How salacious was he?"

"Are you kidding me? He kept undressing you with his eyes! Guy's like taken with you. Keeps telling the Prince Itachi how beautiful you are…yeah, well, we know what he means…"

"Oh." Deidara thought he had a pretty good idea of what the word salacious meant now. "Yeah, that guy was totally salacious!"

"And where was his wife?" Sasori added, frowning in such a state of distraction that he hadn't realized they'd reached Deidara's rooms. Deidara had to pull him back at the collar. Sasori didn't break from speech even as he got them inside. "She didn't even show. What's up with that?"

Deidara shrugged, suddenly far too tired to care. "I don't know. Danna?"

"Yeah?" Sasori thumped the door closed with both hands. He followed Deidara to the massive bed arrangement.

"Where are you gonna sleep?"

"That Kakashi idiot said it was around here somewhere. I'll be fine, don't worry. Just call if you need me. For anything."

"She won't need you!" A voice ascertained them.

Sasori's instincts somersaulted as the unexpected presence in the room presented itself.

Sakura's eyes beamed, as she and two other ladies in waiting came bounding out from between the shutters, revealing the candlelit seating plan they'd devised to lay in comfortable wait.

Sakura flit her gaze to Deidara. "Her Majesty has only to ask us! Let us help you undress, your Majesty."

"Ooh," Sasori quipped, unsure how to phrase his intense aversions. "Perhaps, her Majesty could undress privately, she's very modest. The Hidden Stone is a…conservative country."

"Let us at least undo the lacing on his dress!" Sakura insisted, and a blonde girl later known as Ino, as well as the dark haired girl later known as Hinata, came rushing over in her wake to be of assistance.

Deidara looked mortified, entirely unused to female companionship and even less certain of how to react to their badgering him.

"Danna!" he yelped in Sasori's direction, and the girls froze, startled.

"Princess?" Sakura asked worriedly, feeling like the headlights the deer was caught in.

Deidara straightened out and backed away from them, unsure what to do with three females. In his room. He had never had anything close to that problem before.

"I…wish to sleep in this," Deidara lied, and Sasori sighed in disbelief.

Sakura blinked thrice, eyes roving over the taut, intricate tangle of threadwork on the detailed dress. "Oh. Well, then, of course, your Majesty."

Sasori remained in the room until the three girls were done ensuring Deidara was settled into bed comfortably. Then they all strode out from the doors in graceful haste.

Sakura was throwing perplexed eyes over at Hinata, almost as if to say, '_The Hidden Stone is weird!'_

Ino's eyes caught Sasori's with a nuance of delight, and she smiled before speaking. "The Knight Sasori…His Princess's Danna. May I call you Danna?"

A kingdom was a perfect place for status to win a man favor among women, if that was what one was looking for.

Sasori smiled enchantingly, Deidara still stuck in his mind like a cog in the wheelwork. "No," he provided her simply.

He waved goodnight to his unhappy friend sunken chin deep in the bed sheets, still bound in that unrelenting red dress. Sasori was certain he'd fight it off when they all left the room. He knew Deidara too well.

Deidara did things the hard way, but he always got things done.

And no, she couldn't call him Danna. Only one person called him that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

_Encounters _

It all went wrong the minute the misunderstanding occurred.

"Can I come in?" Sasuke had asked, standing proud and tall in his knight wear, and projecting his voice to make it sound as though he were far older than he actually was.

Deidara, midway through getting back into the dress he'd wrestled off his person the night before, could barely make sense of the words from between the disarray of ruffled clothing. "That you, Danna?"

Sasuke could not clearly hear the Princess at his distance, a door and a dress dividing them. "I said, may I come in?"

Already frustrated, Deidara bit his lip in an attempt to grind his teeth, throwing his mind into a heated overdrive. He savagely wrenched the dress off and reached for the mess of his bed sheets to make a makeshift towel, as he called out, "Get in here! This isn't working, Danna!"

Sasuke, catching the gist of the sentence to be an invitation to enter, thrust the door open calmly. He was already too far inside the room to back out as he caught sight of Deidara, wrapped in the thin white of the bed sheet. Deidara's flush beat even his own to the surface.

"My God, woman!" Sasuke cried out, knocking his sight away crossly. He could feel the irritation embarrassment always spurred rising in his tenor. "Have you lost it? You don't invite a boy into the room while you're indecent!"

Deidara had his golden hair in a flutter, wisps of it dangling down across his face and over his nose. He looked plaintively innocent. Deidara gripped the bed sheet tighter than was necessary, roused to anger himself by Sasuke's aggression on top of his own miserable night's sleep. "Since when do _you_ visit me? I thought you were Sasori!"

Sasuke glowered, perplexed and speechless. Probably shy, more than anything.

"What did you want?" Deidara added, after the longest pause that he had ever witnessed in his life.

"The Prin mon few…" Sasuke mumbled with his eyes half lidded.

"What?"

"The Prince Itachi summons you," Sasuke declared audibly, and with a forceful exit, concluded the discussion on both their parts.

Deidara pushed the loose strands of his hair back into its golden stream, frowning. "Well, if that's all then."

He stepped outside his rooms after another ten minutes worth of wrapping himself in the dress. He was in dishevelment. His face gave it away that he was quite dissatisfied with the job he'd done of getting the dress back on. Iruka came bounding up from out of nowhere, dashing across the blinding white tiles of the outer hallway, and evidently noticing the inept dress arrangement, but electing not to mention it. "Your Highness!"

"Sir," Deidara bid him, dejected, and with an air of snobbery.

From behind a pillar, Kakashi stood and snorted, sure to keep his thoughts in his mind, where they would not get him in trouble with Iruka. '_PMS.'_

"How did you sleep, Madam?"

"I didn't."

"The excitement?" Iruka asked hopefully, although judging by Deidara's angry eyes, he'd had no need to ask. "Anyhow, if your Grace doesn't mind accompanying me to the Prince Itachi. He is awaiting you at the river."

"I haven't eaten."

Iruka blinked, caught off guard by the interruption. "Ex…cuse?"

Deidara was not one to be swayed by any other person's helplessness. "I said…that I haven't eaten. But what I mean is-and since you're so very confused, I might as well spell it out to you in big bold letters—I'm starving. Out of. My mind."

Iruka was surprised by the demanding tone. "Wow," he breathed, verging on bashful. "I don't know what to say. Are you not familiar with how the Uchiha linage and hierarchy works, in the slightest?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Well, it sort of goes, King, Princes, male cousins, male outlier descendants…the queen, and, then well, you." He only hoped he'd phrased that acceptably. Though clearly he hadn't.

Deidara took a delicate step forwards, painting an instant contrast as he snatched Iruka up at the scruff of his livery. "Is that sexism I'm hearing?"

Kakashi stifled a chuckle, even so emitting some kind of amused snorting noise, hidden well behind his pillar. Iruka, face to face with the confrontation, was not so brave. He was awfully shocked by the vehement display. "Your Highness! It's unseemly for a woman to behave in such a manner. As well as to make the Prince wait!"

"No, it's unseemly for a Prince to make a woman wait when she's hungry. Can you point me to a kitchen, Sir Iruka?"

"Madam, I—"

"A kitchen, Iruka." The glint in his eyes was far from feminine.

Iruka swallowed, making the concession at long reluctant last. "It's just past the dining hall, your Grace."

Deidara let him go, a placated expression replacing the anger. He smiled sweetly. "I thank you, Sir." With a sweep of his poorly fitted dress, Deidara flit away in the direction of his target, calling back, "Send the Prince Itachi my regards, in the meantime. And thank him for his patience."

Kakashi stole out from behind the pillar in a fit of giggles as Deidara slipped away. "God, she's hilarious. She's like a free bird in a small space, bound to knock everything over. And there's a lot of glass, aka delicate feelings and inviolable laws and sensitive issues, to be broken in here, of that I assure you."

"What are you talking about?" Iruka asked, granting him a devastated look of concern. "The Uchihas will kill her for it. She's a bird in a house of snakes."

{*XOXOX*}

"And this one's for injuries. Of course, if you don't trust me, you can always check with the infirmity." Shikamaru's eyes traced up Sasuke's body, aligning with his stoic expression as it set on the distant waves of grass on the hillsides. He lowered the hand that held the violet flower to focus better on his Prince. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke's expression remained far away, even as he looked back at Shika. "Do you think it's too soon to hate her?"

"Pardon?"

"Is it too soon to hate the Princess?" Sasuke snapped, shifting his gaze back up so as to be cross at the mountains instead of Shikamaru. "I mean, she isn't exactly welcomed here. She's royalty, sure, but royalty of what exactly? The Hidden Stone? That place is off the map, it's so insignificant. Of what name shall her son and our heir bear anyway? Itachi's heir, part son of the Uchihas, and part son of the nobody-even-knew-it-existed village."

"Sasuke," Shikamaru berated him affectionately, frowning as he cupped his Prince's hand into the one still holding the flower. Sasuke's eyes wandered inquisitively down to the lilac flower that now lay bound between Shika's hand and his own, as the fragile plant rippled at the mere whisper of wind that streamed past them. "You're over thinking things again."

"She is like a flower," Sasuke said at random, his fixation still firmly planted on the one between them.

"What are you talking about?"

"A flower. The brightest ones are poisonous, didn't you say?"

"That's right," Shikamaru confirmed. "So, you do listen."

"Then she is like a flower, Shika." Sasuke placed a hand unthinkingly on Shika's jaw, to pull him nearer. "She is sweet like a colorful flower. Enticing, but just as well marked for poison."

Shikamara's careful gaze considered looking away for a fleeting second. When Sasuke's mind delved into the heavy weight of his lamenting, his sight became too intensive to bear holding.

Sasuke kissed him before he dropped his gaze. "I love you, Shika. You sort my mind out in your own unintentional ways. And you make things form sense."

"I…love you, too," Shika granted him, suspect as Sasuke drew away from him. "I just…wish it could make sense to me."

{*XOXOX*}

Replete at last, Deidara felt content enough to wander down to the river where the Prince Itachi expected him. Of course, Itachi's bored expression revealed that he'd expected him a long time ago. Deidara felt friendlier now that he was at least full. He wondered where Sasori had gotten to as he approached the pier decking the crystal blue-grey waters, and noticed the horde of men that were gathered there. Men he did not know, and men who made him think of Sasori at once. Because he always felt safe, even outnumbered, when his Knight Sasori was around to keep watch of him.

Sasori did not appear, however. The Prince Itachi merely noticed his descent down the incline of grass and arose from his idle sitting to come over and assist the Princess.

"Princess. You made it." His voice did not betray any reproach, which meant he clearly wasn't too fazed about Deidara's detour. Not that Deidara would have tolerated any mentioning if he had thought to criticize him.

Deidara dipped a bow, his most alluring smile set in play. "Your Majesty."

Itachi proffered his hand. "I meant to take you out on a raft," he explained, as Deidara haltingly accepted his hold. Itachi led him down the steep descent. "You love fish, after all."

Deidara grimaced. "Or so I'm told."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," Deidara conceded, quick to brush a piece of hair back to shield his unimpressed face. "I mean, I'm honored you thought of me."

Itachi shrugged, a little more detached than perhaps made Deidara feel comfortable. "Well, I didn't think it up," Itachi admitted, as though it really wasn't his idea of fun to be carting the Princess around all day either. "It was my father's notion." They had landed on even ground, at the end of the hillock, and Itachi freed the Princess's hand to finish approaching the docked raft.

Deidara's face conveyed his injury. He recovered in time to appear regal and made the rest of the walk over to the raft on his own, unaccompanied.

The marsh the raft had been nestled into was clean, clear cut at some point, to allow the passengers space to board. Deidara was assisted onto the raft by one of Itachi's helpers; a boy Deidara recognized from the dinner last evening. Perhaps it was the boy's astounding eyes, alight with notable acumen. Keen intelligence. A significance that singled him out from the ordinary helpers.

"Your Grace," the boy said, helping heft Deidara across the marshes unscathed by water, onto where the grounds were dry. As Deidara touched down atop the wood raft with a clopping sound, he recalled that the mysterious boy's name was Neji.

"Distribute your weight," Itachi said, matter-of-factly.

Deidara barely heeded the warning, due to his incomprehension of the advice. "Do what now?"

When the raft rocked into movement, Deidara understood what he'd meant quite unequivocally. It was quite a grandiose raft, with a wide berth of space between any person and the water off the side, but even so Deidara clutched at Itachi's fine jacket to avoid an untimely tumble into the gloom below. He smiled shyly as Itachi sprung his gaze on him. "Relax, your Majesty. I am to marry you."

Unsure what that even meant, Itachi rotated his gaze away again. The water wavered as the weight of the raft creased through it, crushing the waves aside like folds of clothing. The two men navigating the vessel appeared engrossed in some talk of geography, most likely strategizing where the raft was to steer towards. Other than them, the royal couple was alone.

Deidara liked the look of the waters. They were empty but full all at the same time, and although they were dark, like everything in the Uchiha Kingdom, or so it seemed, they also bore a semblance to something light. Itachi's jet black eyes were very similar to such waters.

"You stand quite sturdy," Deidara said, feigning a polite pitch to his tone. "Do you traverse the seas often, Your Grace?"

Itachi didn't look at him, clearly adverse to the idea of socializing. "Sometimes."

"Often enough to know how to stand well, at least."

"Uchihas do everything well," Itachi explained, and although Deidara took the words as a sign of arrogance then, he was later to discover just how rueful and sad that very statement rested in the depths of Itachi's mind.

"I've no doubt," Deidara said, safely choosing to agree despite his inner opinions. Itachi remained aloof, so Deidara pressed on. "Is it not the will of your father to impress me?" He asked quite openly, uninhibited by things ordinary people might have possessed, such as shame.

"My father has many wills," Itachi said, measuring his words. "Most of them are laws. Many laws. One of which, is to arrive on time when a male summons you. Oh, and by the way, did you enjoy your breakfast, your Grace?"

Deidara smiled, fond of the nuance of mockery implicit that time. "Well played."

Itachi rolled his eyes away from looking at her. But a thin smile was on the verge of breaching his inanimate face.

"Is that a fish?" Deidara asked, suddenly quite taken by something in the water.

Itachi dashed a look down, then couldn't help but smiling. Deidara wandered closer to the edge as he identified it in words, "No, that is a turtle, my Lady."

"A turtle?' Deidara asked in surprise, having never seen one over in the arid lands of the Hidden Stone. He was quite fascinated, and took a courageous step closer to the edge of the raft to get a better view. "What on earth is on its back? That's abnormal, is it not?"

"That is in fact quite normal, my lady." Itachi's eyes widened as Deidara made one precarious motion forwards with his hand.

"I want to touch it…"

"My lady, look out!" Itachi was swift, and Deidara's little outburst was rendered relatively unnecessary as Itachi's hands wound round his falling waist.

The raft had dipped a fraction, as gravity promised it would do to those who strayed right to the very edge.

"It's escaping!" was Deidara's first concern, throwing a pointing finger out to the glittering wet shell of the inquisitive little turtle as it paddled away. Itachi's sight ventured after it.

"You are to be careful, Princess. It's not worth drowning to see a turtle." Itachi frowned in amusement. "Are you sure you've never seen one before?"

"Positive! Aw, look. It's vanished." Deidara pouted, right there in Itachi's grasp. He folded his arms and leant them on Itachi's, which were still in perfect position for such an action, bound as they were around his waist. "Dammit."

Itachi scoffed. "You cannot say dammit."

"And just why not?" Deidara asked him, not in the slightest bit offended for once.

"Because. You're a lady."

Deidara snorted that time, glancing back up at Itachi with a defeated smile. "If you say so, your Grace."

{*XOXOX*}

"Neji," King Fugaku greeted, nodding as the boy bowed, to prompt him back up again. "Where is it?"

"It's with my father, your Highness," Neji returned concisely.

Fugaku nodded. "Good. Be sure it remains in his possession until I am ready for it."

Neji inclined his head, loyalty exuding from his every action.

"You may go now, Neji."

"Thank you," Neji said, before tentatively adding a quizzical, "Sire?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Is it true what they say of the Queen?"

"Many things said about the Queen are said with malice, my young squire. They are not to be taken seriously, but rather as the products of levity."

"Yes, of course, Sire." Neji hadn't wanted to sound like he was prying. It had been his father's orders to pose that question. He was obliged to ask it, despite his own volition not to. It had his heart racing just to get the words out; it had his head hot. The fluid in his brain was searing, and all he wanted was to exit the situation as quickly as possible.

"Although," the King went on, detaining him. "You are always serious, aren't you Neji?"

Neji stiffened inwardly, but tried his best to get his voice out unaffected. "I am inclined to be disciplined."

"You are your father's child, through and through," Fugaku said, leaning in towards Neji to get a better look into his hollow eyes. "Your eyes are barren, as though the life has been carved out of you."

Neji held his ground, tenser than he was brave.

"I suppose diligence is its own beauty," Fugaku mentioned, raking a hand through the wisp of hair that always floated about Neji's face. "And your hair has always been straight, no uncertainties. No ripples. Just straight forward, every single one of you."

Neji was beginning to get the prickling feeling that he meant his entire family. The Hyugas. Neji struck Fugaku's sight with his own the minute Fugaku let go of his hair.

"Pity he didn't have a daughter," Fugaku muttered, and with that gestured for Neji to exit.

Well, there was one in the family. Clearly, he had not met Hinata. Neji didn't feel like mentioning it. With a courteous bow, he rushed away.

Of what did a King want with a Hyuga, anyway?

{*XOXOX*}


End file.
